


Found Out About You

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-07
Updated: 2012-08-07
Packaged: 2017-11-11 16:19:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/480446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All she would find out about him would be in the context of his being the BAU Unit Chief.  Any other avenues had been effectively shut down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Found Out About You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for thousand-miless’ prompt of ‘you never told me you could do that’. Sorry if its not as shippy as she may like, the characters tell me the story not the other way around.

“You never told me that you could do that.” Emily looked at Hotch in amazement as they walked out of the Nolan’s home.

“I don’t like to brag.”

“You don’t have to be a braggart because you tell people that you can do something impressive.”

“Its no big deal, Prentiss.” Hotch deflected.

“I'm betting no one on the team knows.”

“I prefer it just be our little secret.”

“Why didn’t you use this knowledge before?” Emily asked.

“I don’t recall us ever having a Polish speaking witness before. Jake is seven, he's scared, and his English is limited. The one thing he needed right now was someone who could understand him. I gave him that. It’s usually your specialty but this time I could do it.”

“It was quite impressive.” She climbed into the SUV. She was driving today; the power of Rochambeau was on her side.

“Thank you.” Hotch got in the car as well.

“Do you speak any other languages?”

“I used to be better at Spanish and I'm thorough in Latin. I don’t think I'm going to need the Latin anytime soon though.”

“I can help you brush up on Spanish. It’s a language we need right now in our line of work.”

“You want to tutor me?” Hotch asked.

“I'm sure it won't be too much work. You already speak the language; you just need a refresher course.”

“I have you…I don’t need a refresher course. I'm not sure that came out as I intended.”

“You should still use your skills.” Emily said. “I speak plenty of languages. I keep them fresh by teaching them and using them in conversation. I can't even believe you remembered any Polish.”

“It was rusty but Jake got the point. By the way, he didn’t get a good look at the Unsub’s face. I think that’s good because it probably means the Unsub didn’t see him either. If he had he surely would've killed him.”

“That won't stop the nightmares. He’s going to need to talk to someone and with the language barrier it’s going to be even more difficult to express himself.”

“I’ll make sure before we leave that I have another chat with his parents. They’re not poor, they have plenty of options.”

“What else don’t I know about you?” Emily asked, glancing at him as she stopped at a stop sign.

“There's surely a lot.”

“Well I know that. I just…tell me something.”

“Prentiss, we’re working.” Hotch said. He put on his Hotch tone to show he was being serious.

“Actually, we’re in the car. In about 20 minutes we’re going to be back in the police station trying to find this creep. Can we not talk about it for a few minutes?”

“So we’re going to talk about me instead?”

Emily smirked, realizing how crazy it sounded when he asked. Hell no they weren't going to talk about Hotch. They never talked about Hotch. He kept up high brick walls surrounded by barbed wire. Emily attempted to scale one every once in a while. 

She had the scars to prove it. All she would find out about him would be in the context of his being the BAU Unit Chief. Any other avenues had been effectively shut down. He wouldn’t even have a simple conversation with her so that for a few minutes she could forget that someone in this city was getting perverse pleasure out of killing little kids.

“Nevermind.” It was all she knew to say and all that was needed.

“I'm not trying to be difficult.” He said. Hotch could hear the defeat in her voice. He didn’t intend to hurt her feelings. Even when he didn’t intend it seemed as if he always did. If he told her something now she would know it was out of pity. Better to just keep his mouth shut. “Actually, how would you feel about tutoring Jack?”

“In what?” Emily asked.

“He needs to learn foreign languages. He gets Spanish in school if you can believe it but I think it might be good for him to have that door opened for him early.”

“Which one do you want me to teach him?”

“What about Arabic?”

“That’s a hard language to learn, Hotch.”

“You speak it better than anyone I know.” He said.

“I’ll think about it.”

“OK.”

Emily just shook her head, unable to stop herself. So he wanted her to teach Jack foreign languages. It didn’t make a lot of sense. She didn't need him throwing her bones rather than talking to her. Still, Emily knew that she could. She was good at it and Jack was smart. 

But why now? Why ask after not revealing something about himself? Hell, Emily Prentiss had profiled her boss more than once. It was against the rules but as broken as the fraternization one. But Hotch could only be profiled to a point. 

She didn’t know if his mystique was intentional but it was complete. Sometimes Emily was sure she was the only one he closed himself off to like this. But that was just wishful thinking…it would mean he was thinking about her more than anyone else. And she knew that not to be the case.

***


End file.
